


the question of betrayal

by seraf



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Aftermath, Angst with a Happy Ending, Death Star, Force Ghost Obi-Wan Kenobi, Force Ghosts, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Names, Objectification, One Last Time, Post-Canon, Post-Episode: s04e10 Carnage of Krell, Post-Order 66, Post-Star Wars: A New Hope, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Self-Harm, Short & Sweet, Stormtrooper Rebellion, Tatooine, commander cody: lightsaber retrieval specialist, during? towards the end of, in a way; specifically cody's rebellion, old clone troopers, stormtrooper cody, takes place during anh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-04-17 10:08:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14186565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seraf/pseuds/seraf
Summary: it’s been years since he’s been cody. the empire knows him as cc-2224, and he’s never bothered correcting them.but he’s holding a familiar lightsaber and a jedi cloak, and it doesn’t feel like he could be anyone but.( codywan snippets in the original trilogy era; a few different speculated endings to their story. )





	1. Chapter 1

kenobi smells different than he used to. 

cody is sitting in his quarters, face buried in the old jedi cloak he’d been ordered by lord vader to throw into the garbage disposal along with the lightsaber. the alarms blare through the death star, frantic motion through the hallways around cody’s tiny room, but he ignores it all, not moving. 

it’s been years since he’s been cody. the empire knows him as cc-2224, and he’s never bothered correcting them. 

but he’s holding a familiar lightsaber and a jedi cloak, and it doesn’t feel like he could be anyone  _but._

obi-wan’s cloak is rougher than it ever was, and smells like the desert sun, but if cody closes his eyes, he can still faintly smell  _ozone_ underneath it, like the area around a fallen wire. he pauses and pulls his vibroblade from its spot in his armor, slicing into the thin imperial-issued mattress and shoving aside some of the bare foam mat, to pull out a thin piece of plastoid. 

white, with worn orange paint over it, molded to the back of his hand. 

he’s running his hand over the orange line and taking a deep breath, eyes closing as he presses it to his forehead, sharp klaxon of the alarms still ringing outside. he can guess what might happen, soon. it’s why he doesn’t bother moving, and why he’s comfortable keeping the relics of a dead republic on him. there won’t be consequences from the empire. he won’t be around to receive them.  

the dark hair on the back of his neck prickles up, and he knows, somehow, without raising his eyes, who, impossibly, is watching him, and his shoulders curl inwards in shame in their stormtrooper armor. 

‘ please look away, don’t look at me, sir. i don’t deserve it. ‘

there’s a warm laugh in an all-too-familiar accent that makes cody’s chest  _ache,_ and suddenly, he gets the feeling of being enveloped, like someone is wrapping their arms around him or bearing his weight over their shoulder like had happened so many times. 

‘ why shouldn’t you deserve it, commander? ‘

somehow, cody isn’t surprised when he lifts his eyes and sees general kenobi, the same age he’d left him, smiling at him and glowing … blue? 

‘ i betrayed you. ‘ it’s said in a flat tone, cody looking back down, unable to meet his general’s eyes. 

there’s a spectral hand touching his face, somehow lifting his chin, and obi-wan looks at him almost  _fondly._  ‘ through no fault of your own, cody. i don’t blame you for that any more than i could blame you for having jango fett’s face. ‘

cody shuts his eyes again as they sting. 

obi-wan’s voice sounds weary and regretful. ‘ you should get off this battle station, commander. ‘ in his resigned voice, the same one he used when cody and he both knew what the outcome of a battle was likely to be, and when cody opens his eyes and shakes his head with a huff of a laugh, he only looks sad, but like he was expecting that answer. 

‘ i know what’s going to happen. there’s nothing left for me, anyway. nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la. my brothers are all marching far away, obi-wan. i’ve been ready to join them for awhile now. ‘

( there are only a handful of times general kenobi can remember where cody has called him obi-wan. it makes the splitting of his attention, one part of him telling luke to use the force, essentially telling him how to  _kill cody_ all that more difficult. )

* * *

in the remnants of a destroyed battle station, one of the rebels  _swears_ she saw a glimmer of something blue, and another one bets their life day money that they saw two men there for a second, one in battered manda-style armor, the other in jedi robes, holding tight to each other. 


	2. Chapter 2

the first two are after umbara. 

one immediately so, for his men. because he let them down. a thin line, cut across the bottom of his palm.  _one._ then he sees rex, slumped in defeat and golden eyes blank, staring at nothing, and his stomach twists. he let him down, too. rex and his men.  _two._

they find echo, and cody learns that he left him behind those years ago, to be cut into the seperatists. echo wasn’t his man, true, but that made him no less his responsibility.  _three._

the fourth was on utapau. 

* * *

‘ 2224, report back to base. 2224, come in. ‘

cc-2224 rolls his eyes. what was the point, it thought, in having a battle station the size of a small moon, if a trooper couldn’t get two minutes of peace around here. it pressed the button on its comm. 

‘ this is cc-2224, reporting. ‘ 

( it knew  _why_ they were always riding on it. it was the last vestiges of the republic, one of the few clone troopers left, the paragon of soldiers. but its expiration date was coming soon, no doubt. so they wanted everything they could bleed out from it before it was disposed of, like obsolete tech. ) 

‘ lord vader would like to see you on deck, 2224. ‘

a shiver runs down cc-2224′s back. it doesn’t know why, but it feels like it  _knows_ lord vader, in a way different than how a dog knew the leash that held it, like now. and there’s something intimidating about him, like the time cc-2224 had touched the kyber crystal in the heart of the death star, and for a moment, energy lit up its nervous system. 

it sighed and headed to the elevators. 

lord vader was holding something up. a tube of chrome and gold. and though cc-2224 couldn’t read expressions underneath vader’s mask, it could tell, somehow, that vader was displeased. 

‘ kenobi was just here, commander. ‘

something shivers in cc-2224, something long-past, making his body shudder, and he nods duly, looking at the tube of metal in vader’s hand. ‘ yes, my lord. ‘

‘ it was originally your duty to shoot him down, was it not, commander? ‘

‘ yes, my lord. ‘ 

cc-2224 is let off, this time. he’s not sure why. vader has killed vod’e for lesser infractions before; snapped fox’s neck for knowing who he was, choked one of the admirals for questioning him, ran thire through for some infraction cody  _still_ doesn’t know. 

cody. cody, he’s  _cody._

in two days’ time, the rebels attack, flying along a port. cody runs to man one of the guns, locking the door behind him and killing the people currently manning it, before shooting the keypad to open the door. he uses his nail to press two more betrayals into the meat of his palm.  _five. six._

and he turns the gun around, pointing at their own men, giving the rebels a clearer shot at this.  _seven. eight. nine._

his eyes shoot up as one fighter drives by, and he can tell. he can just  _tell._

he’s standing to his feet as the x-wing passes, the young pilot in orange - of course it was in orange - pushing his computer away, and he salutes, their eyes meeting for a fraction of a second. and cody knows, now, why he’s been around this long, and it’s for the sole reason of making sure this pilot makes it a  _little bit_ further. 

he sees the torpedoes shoot, and closes his eyes, knowing somehow that they will aim true, his heart ringing with the victory of a good fight for the first time since the clone wars ended. 

_ten._


	3. Chapter 3

he’s rebuilt this house three times. 

the first was when he bought it, barely a hole in the ground, but cheap and out of the way enough that no one would ever ask questions - he’d sighed, but started moving everything in, the few possessions that he had, selling his starfighter and then, a bit later, regrettably, r6. for the first few nights, he’d slept outside, on his gar-issue bedroll, and looked up at the harsh desert sky. 

( one time he woke up from - not a nightmare, and that was the problem. ) he was in the same bedroll, under a different crisp sky, with dust in his hair and aching hands like he had now, but there was a bacta patch over his left shoulder, and his nose was resting in wiry black hair, an arm slung over his waist and someone else’s body heat compensating for the night air. his commander’s head buried in the crook of a neck, and that too-familiar accent mumbling ‘ ‘s not morning yet, sir. ‘ 

( sure enough, when he sits up, gasping for breath, the first of the binary suns hasn’t even begun to peek over the horizon. )

( he sleeps inside the half-finished house the next day, even when the sand blows into his tunic and sticks in his beard, almost crusting his eyes shut. )

the second had been due to a huge sandstorm. everyone had been affected by it in some way or another - he’d actually helped owen and beru patch up the moisture collectors, terse silence existing between him and own as luke sped by, reaching the age now where running came more easily to him than walking. 

the next day, he returned from mos eisley with a few bartered-for bits and pieces to find a small barrel of water just inside his newly repaired door with the lars crest on it, the holes in his roof patched. he doesn’t thank owen openly - he doesn’t think he’d appreciate it. 

the third, he’s sure his past self might criticize him for, but - he’s taking down part of one wall and mixing up new duracrete for new bricks. but … he’s crushing the comm the rebels keep trying to contact him with, and dropping it into the first brick. in the second, a piece of transparisteel with a blaster bolt hole through it, taken from the temple after operation knightfall. in the third, his old gar gauntlet, dismantled to make it easier. 

in the end, the only things from the past he’s unable to part with are cody’s helmet, pressing it to his forehead for almost half an hour before deciding to set it in the trunk rather than dismantle it, and anakin’s lightsaber. 

he thinks it’s a fitting addition to the house. underneath the duracrete, there’s an old war story there. 

the same can be said for the name  _old ben._


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> rex + cody post empire.

‘ we’ve caught the commander of the imperial base, and we’re holding him with us for questioning. we think you might be able to get through to him best. ‘

rex frowned.  _there’s something they’re not telling me._ so many of the people working with the rebellion were idealists, and idealists weren’t good at lying to anyone but themselves. not that he could blame them. most people hadn’t had the childhood  _he’d_ had. these kids weren’t soldiers. 

‘ why  _me? ‘_

 _‘_ we just think with your expertise, you might be the person for this. ‘

well, that was fucking vague. 

he’s sighing, muttering to himself that this wasn’t what they were built for, which just got him a blank look from the kid next to him. clone humor was  _wasted_ on natural-borns. 

there are two guards outside the cell, and they open the door for him as he sighs, seeing the familiar shine of stormtrooper armor. he rubs his eyes and walks in.

‘ state your name or designat- ‘

and he froze, words catching in his throat, as he  _saw_ the person for the first time. 

even after this much time, he’d recognize his  _vod_ anywhere.

the same scar, curling aggressively over the side of his face, the same hair, grown white and wiry in the same way that rex’s own had, and the same sharp planes that made up his face, admittedly a little bit tempered by time. 

_cody._

for a long moment, they just stared at each other. 

rex was the one to break the silence, running a hand over his beard and shaking his head, letting out a sigh. 

‘  _fuck,_ you’re old. ‘


	5. Chapter 5

cody is sure that in  _other_ units, the clone commanders didn’t feel like the force was offering them an ultimatum every single week; either their adventures this time were going to kill  _them,_ or cody would, for the plan that got them into this shit in the first place. 

even in the 501st, with skywalker’s renowned impulsivity - captain rex had his complaints, sure, but  _commander_ appo, now, had seemed to levy enough support that when skywalker wanted to go on  _that type_ of mission, he’d go alone or with cody’s general. 

which was going to give cody an aneurysm. 

right now, he’s tugging his helmet off, wiping the utapauan dust and his own sweat out of his eyes and squinting against the harsh sunlight up at his general - it seems to cast a halo around his auburn hair, which was that  _slight_ state of ruffled up that let cody know he’d almost died. 

( he made a note to criticize kenobi for that later, once they finished the charge. later, they could hide in the back of one of the gunships like cadets spreading gossip, and cody could carefully brush his general’s hair back into place with his fingers, their noses nearly touching, and - he shook himself out of his reverie.  _later._ )

obi-wan took his lightsaber back from cody’s hand with the force, letting it float back into his palm, and cody resisted the urge to shake his head fondly. ( he didn’t tell his general, but he could  _feel it,_ sometimes, when he used the force around him. it felt warm and familiar, like the coruscanti sun, or the slight drawl to kenobi’s accent. )

( he supposed the force was energy, and energy was heat, after all. commander tano had been adrenalin-hot, when you could be on an ice planet but your heart raced so fast your skin was burning to the touch. general skywalker was  _heturam,_ spice burning in your mouth in almost painful amounts. )

kenobi charged up the hill like a knight in a cadet’s storytime book, and cody watched him, faint admiration and affection, always affection, hidden underneath his helmet. 

then his comlink rings, and he, and  _cody_ is erased. 

( true and not-true. he is not-cody enough to aim the gun at his general, but he is still-cody enough to give the coordinates specifically a few seconds late, when obi-wan has already progressed higher, and to put mish, who just sustained a concussion, in the gunner’s seat. )

(  _there seems to be a problem,_ boil tells him, grimacing, hours later.  _we can’t find the body anywhere. the chancellor doesn’t like it._ )

( true and not-true. he is not-cody enough to search for obi-wan’s body like a bloodhound, but he is still-cody enough yet to convince the not-cody part of him that they need to find a  _body,_ not a living person, and he is still-cody enough, walking around, to feel the coruscanti sun beating on his shoulders even down in the utapauan depths. )


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: "i knew you’d kiss me." with codywan

obi-wan’s thumbs, pressing hard into his forehead, and something, something light, probing, as cody’s arms sway helpless by his side - it feels almost like his general’s thumbs could push  _through_ his skull, cave it in and crush part of his brain, but maybe then this fog wouldn’t be here, of  _good soldiers follow orders good soldiers follow orders good soldiers follow orders,_ the fog that he has to push off with all his might to prevent his deadweight arms from going to the blaster at his hip and putting a hole through the man in front of him. 

and suddenly the pressure lifts, and obi-wan’s hands pull back, and cody  _gasps_ like a drowning man, stumbling forwards like his legs have forgotten how to hold him. 

and his general catches him. 

he supposes he’s forgotten that kenobi is stronger than he looks, that though he’s slim, lithe under his layers of jedi robes, the body there has very little softness, kenobi built like a blade - smooth lines of muscle, almost feline in his stance and movement. 

he shook his head, trying to get his train of thought back onto the tracks of his mind. 

his general caught him, and cody is leaning heavy on him. he thinks that the battle must still be going on - the ground is still shaking from the tanks and the bombing of the gunships overhead, underneath their feet. it takes cody another moment to realize the ground isn’t shaking at all - he is. 

obi-wan sits down on a chunk of rubble, cody still in his arms, and holds him gently, peeling him out of his armor piece by piece - cody shivers at the cool air of utapau hitting his skin, his blacks, the thin veneer of sweat that had build up on his skin during the battle. 

‘ how did you break free of it, cody? ‘ obi-wan asks him after a long moment, cody still feeling like his upper half was made of lead, leaning heavily and nigh immobilized as he leans on obi-wan. 

cody shivers - he doesn’t know. 

just that palpatine had told him  _commander cody, the time has come. execute order 66._ and he knew what it was and his body began to follow through almost robotically, and he dug his heels in and said  _no._

but instead, he tries to smile at kenobi, finally managing to push himself up slightly, hand on kenobi’s thigh holding himself up. ‘ remember what we agreed on the gunship over here? i knew you’d kiss me. you owe me that, and i wasn’t going to let you go  _that_ easily. ‘ 

kenobi pulls him tight to his chest again, and cody holds onto him in return, waiting for the shaking in his body to stop. 


	7. Chapter 7

it starts with cody. 

( it ends with cody. ) 

grievous is dead. dooku is dead. the cold air of utapau rattles through his helmet filters, burning his lungs and throat for the chill of it. around him, there are blaster bolts, cries of pain, the cliffs shaking underneath their boots, caked in red dust. 

he has a lightsaber in his hand. 

( not for the first time. it almost hit him in the head, dropping from above, this time ‘round, and he eyes the edge contemplatively, considering just tossing it over into the rock pools of water below. watching it fall. )

he looks out over the battlefield. 

there are broken bodies, his brothers bright casts of white across the red landscape. kenobi had come charging through some of them earlier, on his dragonmount, and the mount had sent troops flying off the edge as it ran through them. 

one of them hadn’t made it. obi-wan didn’t even mention their passing. 

cody is a strategist, and sees the bigger picture, sees that they’re pushing the enemy back, another gunship dropping in, the lasers working to take out some of the spider droids they’re dealing with. 

something tells him now is the time. he is marshall commander, the highest ranking clone in the gar, and it was agreed that he was the only one who could organize something like this. he gives one look more to the battlefield, and presses a code into his wrist comm. 

‘ this is commander cody, ‘ he says, and in every active clone’s helmet, his voice echoes. ‘ it’s time. it’s time.  _ke narir haar'ke'gyce rol'eta resol._ ‘ 

his comm clicks off, just in time, obi-wan’s dragonmount skittering up to cody, obi-wan looking weary, but forcing a grin, calling down to the commander, and cody pulls off his helmet, approaching him. 

‘ commander! send your men to the higher … ‘ it doesn’t matter what he’s saying, and cody revels, almost, in just … not listening. it’s not  _important_ that he listens. ‘ cody? are you alright? ‘ 

he takes another step forwards, obi-wan’s lightsaber concealed in his hand, and presses it, unignited, to the dragonmount’s ribs, under the crook of its shoulder, and activates it. it dies without ceremony, crumpling under kenobi, who looks at cody as if he’s gone mad. 

‘ hands in the air, sir, ‘ cody says calmly, and does what he had wanted earlier, and just  _tosses_ kenobi’s lightsaber over the edge. ‘ we don’t want to hurt you if we don’t have to. ‘ 

around them, there’s a  _cli-click-click-ck,_ of several guns being cocked, a circle of troopers surrounding obi-wan, who slides off the side of the mount, eyes darting back and forth, like he had added two and two and five had come out. ‘ commander, what is this? ‘ 

‘ you killed grievous. ‘ 

‘ yes, ‘ kenobi says, slowly. 

‘ the war will be over in - weeks at most. days, at least. tell me, kenobi, ‘ cody says, and lifts his chin, an expression of almost  _serenity_ shining through jango fett’s face. ‘ what do you think happens to us, when the war ends? ‘ 

there were protests, of course. had been, since the beginning of the war. anti-clone protesters, who argued that if the clones and droids were both disposed of, the two sides could come to a peace so much more easily. 

‘ i don’t know, commander, ‘ kenobi says. ‘ lower your gun. that’s an order. ‘ 

cody grins. 

‘ we have our own, now. order sixty-six. if the war ends, the senate will do their best to forget us. if we want to be free, this is the only chance we get. we don’t want to kill you, but if we have to? we would. ‘ upon seeing kenobi’s betrayed look, he adds: ‘ how many of  _us_ might as well have died at your hands, sir? ‘ 

‘ very well, commander, ‘ obi-wan says, slowly, eyes not leaving cody’s face. ‘ i surrender. are you going to cuff me? ‘ 

‘ no, ‘ cody says. he knows kenobi too well. in a cell or tied up, he’ll be out in the blink of an eye, and a wave of blue stun blasts ripples through the circle of troopers, obi-wan’s body crumpling to the ground, unceremoniously. like a clone. 

cody looks down at his general. 

‘ get him in one of the gunships. move the tanks to the higher levels. we’ll finish this fight and then begin the negotiations. ‘ 


End file.
